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b alan wallace
April 2007 
always already there...
sensei
Every single sentient being wishes to be happy and free of suffering. By no means does Buddhism say this is wrong; rather, this is where we start from. The very root of this yearning for happiness, this yearning to be free of suffering, is the fundamental expression of the buddha-nature. If for the time being we turn our gaze away from the myriad ways that we can stray from the agenda--trying to find happiness by buying a more luxurious car, or a bigger house, or getting a better job--and just come back to the primary desire of wishing to be happy, we find at the very source of our yearning for happiness the buddha-nature wanting to realize itself. It's like a seed that wants to spring into the sunlight. Sometimes it gets terribly contorted, when we want to injure somebody else for the sake of our own happiness, but the fundamental yearning is something to be embraced.
--from The Four Immeasurables: Cultivating a Boundless Heart by B. Alan Wallace
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Wonderful reminder, Sensei!
Last Saturday there was a talk on Diane Rehm show with daniel Gilbert about how people think about happines how thay can be mislead, his book is called “stumbling on happines”
Suffering: even if we are free of suffering but other beings are not- can we be happy? Once we KNOW about them, we cannot be fully happy until it ends…
Awarness is a loss
$: Though people are indeed trying to find happines by buying cars, houses, trophy wives, etc (well better job is I would say in a different category), this may bring happines to those more ambitious beasts, for a while .
I think ..- no: I know : the real happines is a state of mind.
but still: I'm maybe not on high enough level of spiritual development, and for me there are certain material things that indeed add to my happines, those things cover the basic needs, esthetic needs (is there something more depressing than ugly lamp hanging from Armstrong ceiling above your desk?) things that allow me to be close to nature,. and what can I say: material things allow us to be more free (not slaves of company that hired us and gave us only one week vacations per year, ouhh)
material things (ok i will say it: $) allow us to travel, see the world, allow us to have TIME- and TIME we have only for ourself- is a material luxury, becasue when we don't work our mortgage , cars, insurance ,food - must be paid for.
and once we have TIME we can REALIZE ourself.
Maybe i didn't get your post right … I don't know…
I do not use the word ‘happiness’ to describe my overcoming ‘suffering.’
I prefer the words ‘content,’ or, ‘quiet comfort,’ with What Is on my plate.” Though of course there are those times when I witness the suffering of others & a hurting-connection occurs in my breast.
I am periodically amazed at how we humans hang onto suffering for decades on end, yet I understand that each one of us has our own unique journey to live out.
I adore the Buddha’s teachings & our precious Dali Lama.